Press Release from Senate Health Committee Hearing

April 2, 2009

Montgomery, Alabama

The Senate Health Committee held a public hearing today concerning SB 483. SB 483 is an access to health care bill that was introduced by the committee chair Senator Linda Coleman from Birmingham. The bill will give Certified Registered Nurse Practitioners and Certified Nurse Midwives in the state the power to improve the health of the people in Alabama. SB 483 seeks to improve access of care for the people of Alabama by allowing schedule drugs to be prescribed by nurse practitioners, reduces regulation on physicians collaborating with nurse practitioners, and officially recognizes nurse practitioners as health care providers in Alabama law.

Members of the Senate Health Committee present for the hearing were Senators Linda Coleman, Chair, Tom Butler, Larry Means, Larry Dixon, and Wendell Mitchell. Those not in attendance were Senators Roger Bedford, Steve Finch, Zeb Little, Hinton Mitchem, Myron Penn, Quinton Ross, Harri Anne Smith, and Jabbo Waggoner. Speakers supporting SB 483 were Dr. Kenneth Wool, a cardiologist from Montgomery, Cindy Cooke, a nurse practitioner from Huntsville, and Dr. Alan Heins, an emergency physician in Mobile, Alabama.

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